Sunday, 30 September 2007

• Currently Reading C. S. Lewis: Images of His World By Douglas R. Gilbert, Clyde S. Kilby see related

  For Your Consideration: When Good Doctrine is False Teaching

  And now for something differently complete.

  I opened a book randomly and it turned to page 47, which to some people would be interesting enough in itself.  However, the content was interesting too, for various reasons.  I offer the following for your theological consideration:

   “The evangelical movement isn’t really very evangelical anymore.  The typical evangelical leader today is far more likely to express indignation at someone who calls for doctrinal clarity and accuracy than to firmly oppose another self-styled evangelical who is actively attacking some vital biblical truth.”

  —John MacArthur, The Truth War, p. 47

  At first glance, this seems like a valid complaint.  Shouldn’t we stand up for the truth of the Bible, and support those who do?  However, take a longer glance.  I think there’s a problem lurking in the subtext:  These words come from a book in which Pastor MacArthur himself is “calling for doctrinal clarity and accuracy”.  So “someone,” in MacArthur’s parlance, means (or at least includes) “me.”

  Armed with that knowledge, let me cut away some of the jargon and attempt a paraphrase:  “You should ‘firmly oppose’ people who have spoken against things I believe are true.  I do; in fact, I even call them ‘self-styled evangelicals’.  And you’re complaining about my attitude?  How typical. I guess you’re not really very evangelical either.”

  Without the fancy wording, that seems a lot less valid.  While we’re certainly required to “test all things” against the standard of Scripture (see 1 Thess. 5:21-22), the attitude that goes around gunning for people who happen to disagree with us is one we ought to be indignant about.  (I mean to say, “self-styled evangelicals”?  So they aren’t able to correctly identify their own belief system?)  That’s not because truth is relative, but because those who antagonize people that way are not walking in the truth. 

  See, one of those many vital biblical truths (to use MacArthur’s phrase) is that you should treat others the way you want to be treated: “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them” (Luke 6:31).  (My previous post still has me thinking about the Golden Rule.)  So, how would you want to be treated: If you were teaching something that someone else considered an error, would you rather have him “firmly oppose” you, or take you aside and gently, humbly talk with you, find out where you were coming from, and explain what he believed was true? 

  Really?  I thought so.  Well then, “Go thou and do likewise.”

  Not convinced?  Consider another vital biblical truth:

  “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” --2 Timothy 2:24-26

  Look at the description words here:  Not quarrelsome, kind, patient, gentle.  “Firmly” didn’t make the list.  Though we teach the truth, the goal of our teaching is to win people, not arguments.  And note that fascinating turn of phrase, “repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.”  It’s not that we point out people’s errors, they see their mistake, and then they repent.  It’s that we show them the grace and kindness of God, they repent, and then they realize they were held captive to error.

  It’s a bad thing be a false teacher, or to come under the influence of contra-biblical doctrine.  But it’s at least equally bad—and arguably worse—to know all about good theology but still treat people without Christlike love.  Our goal as Christians should not be to oppose people who attack vital biblical truths.  Our goal is to proclaim in our words and actions the vital biblical truths that they happen to attack, and leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit.  People may have a problem with that, but they shouldn’t have a problem with you.

  Now let’s examine a quote I found on the opposite end of the spectrum:

  “Whoever, then, appears in his opinion to have understood the Sacred Scriptures, or even some part of them, yet does not build up with knowledge the twofold love of God and neighbor, ‘has not yet known as he ought to know.’  Yet, if anyone has derived from them an idea that may be useful in building up this love, but has not expressed by it what the author whom he is reading truly intended in that passage, he is not erring dangerously nor lying at all.” 

  —Augustine, On Christian Teaching, 1.36.40

  Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Mr. Augustine (or may I call you “Saint”?)!  Did you just say that if a person gets an idea from the Scripture that is at odds with what the author actually intended, “he is not erring dangerously nor lying at all”?  That could get you in big trouble at a lot of Bible colleges and seminaries, you know.

  Nonetheless, I’m beginning to think that Augustine might be on to something here.  He’s not saying that understanding the Scripture correctly isn’t important.  He’s just saying that love, for God and for your neighbor, is almost infinitely more so.

  Jesus Himself said that “all the Law and the Prophets” (i.e. every word of Scripture) are based upon the two Greatest Commandments: Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself (see Matthew 22:36-40).  It follows, then, that a person who learns better how to love God and her neighbor must necessarily be understanding the Scripture correctly, even if she is a barely literate person who will never grasp the finer points of interpretation.  It also follows that a person who neglects to love God and his neighbor is deficient in his understanding of Scripture, even if he has multiple earned doctorates in theology, hermeneutics, and biblical languages.

  That’s a daunting thought, but what it comes down to is this:  To love God and your neighbor is to show that you understand God’s Word correctly.  To neglect to love God and your neighbor is to show that you don’t understand God’s Word correctly.  The rest is just academics.

  Does this mean we should give up studying the Bible and forget about differentiating between false doctrine and truth?  Of course not; even Augustine’s quote comes from his book on how to understand and teach the Scripture correctly.  What it does mean is that perhaps we should change our emphasis.  The problem with false teaching is not simply that it contradicts the Word of God, although it does.  The problem with false teaching is that it distracts us from loving God or loving our neighbor.

  Think about it: Would you be more likely to love God if you believed the false teaching that God is capricious, arbitrary, and waiting to smite anyone He doesn’t like, or if you believed the biblical teaching that God is a loving Father waiting to welcome home the prodigals?  Would you be more likely to love your neighbor if you believed the false teaching that your neighbor (not being a believer) is already predestined to you-know-where, or if you believed the biblical teaching that God’s grace is available to everyone?  You see where this will take you. 

  Or we could take the positive side of the coin.  The benefit to studying the Bible and sound doctrine is not that it helps us get a good grade on a theology test but that, if done rightly, it helps us to better love God and our neighbor.  The apostle Paul, who was surely no intellectual or theological slouch, sagely observed:

  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If someone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know to the degree that he needs to know. But if someone loves God, he is known by God.
  

  –1 Corinthians 8:1b-3 NET

  Perhaps all this will be clearer with some application, although I just now thought of it.  Not long ago I turned on the TV and was greeted with the oddly smiling face and blow-dried hair of a televangelist of the “Prosperity Gospel” school of theology.  Think of every absurd stereotype you’ve heard about such teaching, and that was his message.  “God wants you to plant your thousand dollar seed in our ministry, so he can bless you with a harvest to make you a millionaire!  If you don’t have a thousand dollars, pray that God will give it to you, because maybe He just doesn’t know you want to be a sower”—that’s not satire but a more or less verbatim quote.

  At first, my reactions to this man were the usual—sarcasm, ridicule, laughter, a bit of anger at him for distorting the Gospel message so ridiculously.  (And in the interest of full disclosure I must confess that this took place after I’d composed the paragraphs above.)  But then I started thinking.  What’s the problem with that man’s teaching?  It’s not simply that he is contradicting the Scriptural teaching that we should “give, expecting nothing in return” (see Luke 6:35), although clearly he is.  But his theology will make it harder for him to love his neighbor: when his neighbors fall on hard times, it’s their own fault for not having enough faith.  And it will make it harder for him to love God: when he falls on hard times himself, what will he think of God for not completing the prosperity bargain?

  I thought back to a pastor I’d met in my travels who shared his testimony with me.  He’d started out his ministry as a committed teacher of the prosperity “health-and-wealth” theology, where, if only you have enough faith, God will bless you with financial riches and unbroken physical wellness.  All went well until he suddenly contracted a dangerous heart disease.  The resulting medical bills left him near bankruptcy and unable to provide for his family. 

  What does a man in that state need to hear?  The message of his false gospel, that this happened because he didn’t have enough faith?  The message of people with “good theology” who criticize him for contradicting biblical teaching?  Or the message of Christ, who says, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33)?

  That’s a message of grace.  That’s a message of truth.  That’s the message of Jesus.

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